Research Report: Teacher Turnover: Why It Matters and What ...

Teacher Turnover: Why It Matters and What We Can Do About It

Desiree Carver-Thomas and Linda Darling-Hammond

AUGUST 2017

Teacher Turnover: Why It Matters and What We Can Do About It

Desiree Carver-Thomas and Linda Darling-Hammond

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Larry Rosenthal, Senior Lecturer of Public Policy at University of California, Berkeley, for his insights and advice. We also thank the following LPI colleagues for their valuable feedback: Leib Sutcher, Roneeta Guha, Tara Kini, and the entire Educator Quality team. We thank Bulletproof Services and Penelope Malish for their editing and design contributions to this project, and Lisa Gonzales for overseeing the editorial process. Research in this area of work is funded in part by the S. D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation. Core operating support for the Learning Policy Institute is provided by the Ford Foundation, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and the Sandler Foundation.

External Reviewers

This report benefited from the insights and expertise of two external reviewers: Li Feng, Brandon Dee Roberts Excellence Assistant Professor at Texas State University; and Jesse Rothstein, Professor of Public Policy and Economics and Director of the Institute for Research on Labor and Employment at University of California, Berkeley. We thank them for the care and attention they gave the report. Any remaining shortcomings are our own.

Suggested citation: Carver-Thomas, D. & Darling-Hammond, L. (2017). Teacher turnover: Why it matters and what we can do about it. Palo Alto, CA: Learning Policy Institute. The report can be found online at . This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution--NonCommercial 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit .

LEARNING POLICY INSTITUTE | TEACHER TURNOVER: WHY IT MATTERS AND WHAT WE CAN DO ABOUT IT

Table of Contents

Executive Summary.................................................................................................................................. v Introduction................................................................................................................................................1 Trends in Teacher Turnover......................................................................................................................3

National Trends...............................................................................................................................3 Regional and State-by-State Trends................................................................................................9 Subject-Area Turnover.................................................................................................................. 11 Turnover in Schools Serving Historically Underserved Students................................................. 14 Turnover of Teachers of Color...................................................................................................... 20 Predictors of Turnover............................................................................................................................ 24 School Characteristics................................................................................................................. 24 Teacher Characteristics............................................................................................................... 25 Main Teaching Subject Area........................................................................................................ 27 Teaching Conditions..................................................................................................................... 29 Summary of Findings............................................................................................................................. 30 Policy Considerations............................................................................................................................. 32 Compensation.............................................................................................................................. 32 Teacher Preparation and Support................................................................................................ 33 School Leadership....................................................................................................................... 34 Conclusion............................................................................................................................................... 34 Technical Appendix................................................................................................................................ 35 Data............................................................................................................................................. 35 Methodology................................................................................................................................ 35 Endnotes.................................................................................................................................................. 43 About the Authors.................................................................................................................................. 48

List of Figures and Tables

Figure 1: Rate of Leaving Teaching Has Increased..........................................................................3 Figure 2: Sources of Teacher Turnover, 2011?12 to 2012?13.....................................................4 Figure 3: Occupational Status of Leavers........................................................................................5 Figure 4: Factors Teachers Report as Being Very Important for Leaving Teaching.........................6 Figure 5: Factors Teachers Report as Being Very Important Reasons for Moving..........................6 Figure 6: Turnover Rates Vary by Region and District Type.......................................................... 10 Figure 7: Teacher Turnover Varies Widely by State....................................................................... 11 Figure 8: Turnover Rates Vary by Primary Teaching Assignment.................................................. 12

LEARNING POLICY INSTITUTE | TEACHER TURNOVER: WHY IT MATTERS AND WHAT WE CAN DO ABOUT IT

Figure 9: Teacher Turnover Is Greater in Title I Schools............................................................... 15 Figure 10: Teachers in Title I Schools Stay Fewer Years................................................................. 16 Figure 11: Teachers in Title I Schools Have Fewer Years of Experience........................................ 16 Figure 12: Teacher Turnover Is Greater When Schools Serve Primarily Students of Color............. 17 Figure 13: Teachers in Schools Serving Primarily Students of Color Stay Fewer Years................. 18 Figure 14: Teachers at Schools Serving Primarily Students of Color Have Less

Overall Experience......................................................................................................... 19 Figure 15: Teacher Leaving Rate, 1988?89 to 2012?13............................................................. 21 Figure 16: Teacher Moving Rate, 1988?89 to 2012?13.............................................................. 21 Figure 17: Teacher Leaver and Mover Rates, 2012....................................................................... 22 Figure 18: Predicted Turnover Rate by Population of Students of Color ........................................ 25 Figure 19: Predicted Turnover Rate by Population of Students of Color and

Teacher Preparation Pathway........................................................................................ 26 Figure 20: Predicted Turnover Rates by Subject Area..................................................................... 27 Figure 21: Predicted Turnover Rate by Highest District Salary....................................................... 28 Figure 22: Predicted Turnover Rate by Teacher Report of Administrative Support........................ 29 Table 1: Teacher Reasons for Leaving............................................................................................7 Table 2: Change in Proportion of Teachers in Selected Cities by

Teacher Race, 2000?12............................................................................................... 23 Table A-1: Independent Variable Means for Teachers Overall; Teachers of Color;

Mathematics, Science, and Special Education; and Teachers from Alternative Pathways.............................................................................. 40 Table A-2: Logistic Regression Odds Ratios: Probability of Teachers Moving or Leaving.............. 41

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Executive Summary

Growing teacher shortages nationally have made filling vacancies with qualified teachers increasingly difficult. Curbing teacher turnover--that is, all teacher movement out of schools or out of the profession--can go a long way toward solving shortages. About 90% of the nationwide annual demand for teachers is created when teachers leave the profession, with two-thirds of teachers leaving for reasons other than retirement. If school systems can address the factors that create high turnover, they can reduce the demand for teachers who are in short supply.

Not only does turnover contribute to shortages, teacher movement out of schools and out of teaching creates costs for the schools they leave behind. Estimates exceed $20,000 to replace each teacher who leaves an urban school district. Most importantly, high turnover rates reduce achievement for students whose classrooms are directly affected, as well as for other students in the school.

Our analysis of nationally representative survey data from the 2012 Schools and Staffing Survey and the 2013 Teacher Follow-up Survey reveals that the severity of turnover varies markedly across the country:

? Total turnover rates are highest in the South (16.7%) and lowest in the Northeast (10.3%), where states tend to offer higher pay, support smaller class sizes, and make greater investments in education.

? Teachers of mathematics, science, special education, English language development, and foreign languages are more likely to leave their school or the profession than those in other fields. These are teaching fields that experience shortages in most states across the country.

? Turnover rates are 50% higher for teachers in Title I schools, which serve more low-income students. Mathematics and science teacher turnover rates are nearly 70% greater in Title I schools than in non-Title I schools, and turnover rates for alternatively certified teachers are more than 80% higher.

? Turnover rates are 70% higher for teachers in schools serving the largest concentrations of students of color. These schools are staffed by teachers who have fewer years of experience and, often, significantly less training to teach. Teacher turnover rates are 90% higher in the top quartile of schools serving students of color than in the bottom quartile for mathematics and science teachers, 80% higher for special education teachers, and 150% higher for alternatively certified teachers.

? Teachers of color--who disproportionately teach in high-minority, low-income schools and who are also significantly more likely to enter teaching without having completed their training--have higher turnover rates than White teachers overall (about 19% versus about 15%). While they leave at higher rates than White teachers generally, their turnover rates are about the same as those of all other teachers in high-poverty and high-minority schools.

Teachers cite a number of reasons for leaving their school or the profession. The most frequently cited reasons in 2012?13 were dissatisfactions with testing and accountability pressures (listed by 25% of those who left the profession); lack of administrative support; dissatisfactions with the teaching career, including lack of opportunities for advancement; and dissatisfaction with working conditions. These kinds of dissatisfactions were noted by 55% of those who left the profession and 66% of those who left their school to go to another school.

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Personal and financial reasons were also cited, along with the desire to take another kind of job or to retire.

Among the key variables that drive turnover

Among the key variables that

are the kind of preparation teachers have had prior to entry and the kind of administrative support they receive on the job. In an analysis of

drive turnover are the kind of preparation teachers have had

predictors of turnover in which we controlled for

prior to entry and the kind of

a large number of student, teacher, and school characteristics, we found that:

administrative support they receive on the job.

? Teachers who enter the profession

through alternative certification

pathways--who have had less

coursework and student teaching, on average, than teachers who are prepared through

traditional programs--are 25% more likely to leave their schools and the profession, even

after controlling for their students, schools, and teaching conditions.

? Teachers of mathematics or science, special education, or foreign languages were much

more likely to leave their schools or the profession in comparison with elementary school

teachers. Holding all else constant, mathematics and science teachers have a predicted

turnover rate 37% greater than that of elementary school teachers, special education

teachers have a rate 46% higher, and foreign language teachers have a rate 87% higher.

? Teacher reports of a lack of administrative support have the strongest relationship with

teacher turnover. In a model controlling for other factors, teachers who strongly disagree

that their administration is supportive are more than twice as likely to leave their school or

teaching than teachers who strongly agree their administration is supportive.

? Controlling for other factors, teachers in districts with a maximum teacher salary greater

than $72,000 are 20% to 31% less likely to leave their schools than those in districts with

maximum salaries under $60,000.

Turnover was also higher for teachers in small schools and for those under 30 or over 50, as compared to those in mid-career. Having controlled for school size and location and other student, teacher, and school characteristics, no other teaching conditions proved to be significant predictors of teacher turnover.

Recommendations

To stem teacher turnover, federal, state, and district policymakers should consider improving the key factors associated with teacher turnover: compensation, teacher preparation and support, and school leadership.

Compensation

? Provide compensation packages that are competitive with those of other occupations requiring similar levels of education and that are equitable across districts, so all schools can compete in the labor market for well-prepared teachers.

? Offer service scholarship and loan forgiveness programs that reduce the debt burden

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